'The Keys of Marinus'

As well as specialist restoration projects, the team
currently undertake routine remastering of all Doctor Who releases for BBC Video. 'The
Keys of Marinus', a six-part story from the first season of the series, was remastered in
late 1998.

'The Keys of Marinus' is a good example of a story
where the advantages of going back to the best possible source material can easily be
demonstrated. The videotape copies used by UK Gold, and sold to other countries all over
the world, originated in the mid-eighties. These copies are very poor quality, full of
dirt and sparkle and poorly transferred from whichever film prints were easiest to access
at the time. Episode five, in particular, is appalling quality, with all the highlight
detail completely crushed out.

When BBC Video contacted the team and asked them to
remaster the episodes for a release in early 1999, permission was sought to access the
original film recording negatives from the sixties. These are the films from which all
other prints have been struck and are the best possible quality.

The episodes were transferred via a wetgate telecine, which is now our
standard practice. No particular problems were encountered but the resulting picture
quality was a considerable improvement on that available before.